This Week

Alison Biggar

Published 4:00 am, Sunday, January 28, 2007

I grew up in an oil-rich town where you never sold the mineral rights to any land you owned, where refineries freely belched black clouds into the air on foggy days and where big oil figured prominently as an employer. We had a good idea of how the oil business ran, colored by my dad's vociferous complaining about smog and spills, and his tendency to mail off globs of tar from beach trips to friends who worked at Standard Oil. When Oakland author Lisa Margonelli's book, "Oil on the Brain: Adventures From the Pump to the Pipeline," showed up, I guessed rightly that it would be an entertaining read. It's also a great primer on how the oil business does work, from our end of the pump back to the ground in places like Iran and Chad. In our excerpt, you'll meet Michael Gharib, owner of Twin Peaks Oil, and see the kind of challenges he and other independent station owners face in this era of dwindling resources and high demand.

Also in this issue, Jake Whitney explores the effects of recent legislation that loosens the standards for organic foods. How will that affect the little guys, farmers who want to remain true to the word?